Rape Drug Detector Test Patented by UCSB Scientists

By GAIL GALLESSICH

A patent for a highly sensitive test to detect the presence of the "date rape" drug GHB has recently been granted to UC Santa Barbara.

Several companies are interested in developing and marketing the test, which can be designed as a kit with small strips of paper that change from white to an intense purple color in a few seconds if GHB is present.

The UCSB test is the most rapid one available that is also sensitive, according to the researchers. With it, GHB can be detected in just one quarter of a drop of urine, blood, or alcoholic beverage. Currently, there are other tests on the market with such poor sensitivity that only dangerously high levels of GHB can be detected.

Speedy and sensitive detection is extremely important in emergency room settings where comatose patients must be rapidly diagnosed. And law enforcement officials need a quick test to detain individuals in possession of GHB. The test can also be used to check a drink for the presence of GHB.

The substance GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) is very dangerous. Depending on the dose, there is a narrow range of response to the drug, from mild euphoria to death. This dose response drastically increases when mixed with alcohol.

The research to develop the test began a few years ago when Harold Penn, a local entrepreneur, was disturbed by news reports of a date rape case involving a Brooks Institute of Photography student who had been drugged with GHB and raped. He asked his friend David Harris, a UCSB professor of chemistry and biochemistry, to see if a test could be developed to detect GHB. Then, Penn wrote the first of two checks to help support the research.

Stanley Parsons, chair of the department at the time, asked Dawn Bravo, a Ph.D. candidate who worked in his lab, to help him on the research and she agreed. Another collaborator is Dr. Karl Sporer, an emergency room physician at San Francisco General Hospital and UC San Francisco, who has direct experience with GHB-drugged patients.

GHB is usually distributed as a solution of unknown concentration. An individual can easily ingest a dangerous amount of GHB, especially when mixed with alcohol. A small dose can render a person unconscious within five to 10 minutes, explained Bravo.

"The drugged person may be comatose and doctors may have no idea what is wrong. The drug works on the nervous system to cause deep relaxation, a trance-like state called absence seizure, and amnesia. Women may be completely unaware that they've been raped."

Bravo said she found it "extremely motivating" to be working with an emergency room physician who needed the test. She also was motivated to help prevent crimes against women. And, she said, it was so rewarding for a member of the community to invest in the research that she felt great responsibility to see it through.

"I would love to develop more medically oriented research to benefit humanity," said Bravo. "It makes me feel complete to take a project like this from start to finish."